Meet Bobby

MEET BOBBY

My name is Bobby Bartlett. I live in Germantown, Maryland.

Apologies to Superman, but I stand for truth, justice, and the American Way. I’m running for State Delegate in District 39, which includes parts of Germantown, Clarksburg, Montgomery Village and Washington Grove.

I grew up in Frederick and studied journalism in college, but graduated with the intent to use my communications skills to more firmly establish and grow American professional soccer, something I was passionate about.

I finished school in the Spring of 2009, and the realities of the job market at that time pushed me toward a career in the sales and business side of the sports industry. That pursuit let me to opportunities in Minnesota, Chicago, and eventually to Germantown, where I put down roots working to build a women’s professional soccer team to sustainability. I felt a responsibility to the women on that team and those around the league to make the business side succeed so that they could have the opportunity to pursue their dreams as athletes. We were successful in that effort, and I’m proud to have played a role in the early years of that league.

I married my wife, Mariane, in 2012. She is Brazilian, and was working as an au pair when we first met. She is my best friend and my wingman in life. We became parents at the beginning of 2017, and our son inspires me to take a stand for a better world.

WHY I’M RUNNING

I began to be drawn toward politics in 2016. Like most people, regardless of where they land on the political spectrum, I had grown disgusted by the crass level of discourse, incompetence and corruption of our leaders in recent years. I kept a low profile in my views, though, not wanting to rock the boat in my professional life, and risk offending the sensibilities any potential clients, or someone who might have hiring or promotion power over me one day.

That summer, my wife shared with me the news that she was pregnant for the first time. I was overjoyed at the news, but eventually I came to ponder what sort of world, and what sort of society, he would grow up in as I faced the tangible inheritor to my imperative to leave the world a better place than i found it. His projected due date was January 20, 2017 – the day our next president would be inaugurated.

Would it be a world where truth mattered, or would “alternative facts” (a term that would later emerge) rule the day and dictate history? Would fairness and justice be aims that we all work toward, or would it be everyone for themselves in carving out dignity in life? Would it be a planet of abundance and beauty, or would we deplete its resources and break its careful natural balances for profit? Would it be one where representative democracy serves liberty and the prosperity of us all, or would money be the only means to power as the wealthy arrange the board to ensure their ever higher prosperity was the principal work of the nation?

I maintained an optimism that our republic could be salvaged and our founding ideals redeemed, but understood that the work to do so was a massive undertaking, that would require the action of all who are worthy of the title, “citizen.” When Donald Trump shocked my expectations and won the election in November, I was determined that I would no longer wait for someone else to take action.

For the sake of being able to look my son in the eye and myself in the mirror, I decided that I owed it to him to make my best possible effort to step into the arena and set things right.

Though I keep an eye toward the health of our nation and the wider world, I see much that needs to be done in Maryland that will lead to a world where justice stands. I see a state brimming with potential leaders, and people with the vision to lead the course for the nation as a whole. I see wrongs in our own home that can be righted if our leaders are committed.

I hope you’ll join me in these efforts, as we work toward a future that is truly worth fighting for.